http://www.fox6.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=d9c4318c-2f24-4623-9a5c-66672cb872e0

Sound of the Surf, the movie
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surfer
How offten does that happen?

Last time in Solana was like '59-ish. Last in SD county was '94. It is !extremely! rare but seems like So Cal has had more sightings the last couple years, FWIW.

Sound of the Surf, the movie
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Very, very, very rare in this neck of the woods. The one in '94 was never offically confirmed as an attack. There were questions raised as to the possibility that the victim was already dead when she got chomped. Kind of a mysterioso thing surrounding that whole deal...

Regardless, my friends and I renamed a semi-secret spot near where she washed ashore as "Torsos". Surfer humor, you know it can be kind of twisted sometimes

Bummer for the family of the guy that got it this morning. People will no doubt be back in the water in less than a couple of days right near where it happened. There are some pretty prime surf spots in that area.

Check out Rat Surf Radio - Surf Trash Garage Punk PODCAST!
http://www.ratsurfradio.com

The "official confirmed" account is:

From 1900 to 2005 there were 130 authenticated unprovoked shark attacks reported from the Pacific Coast of North America. The breakdown by state is; Washington 1, Oregon 17, and California 112. There have been 111 shark attacks reported from California between 1950 and 2005, with *10 fatal. The White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, was either positively identified or highly suspect in all 10 fatalities. Of the 111 reported attacks from California in the last 55 years, the White Shark was implicated in 99.

Since 2000 to March, 2008 non fatal encounters:

Date Victim Activity Location Outcome

29 Sep 2000 P. E. Surfing Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, CA
Survived
4 Nov 2000 C. S. Surfing Bunkers, Humboldt Bay, CA
Survived
31 May 2002 L. F. Surfing Stinson Beach, CA
Survived
21 Sep 2002 R. R. Surfing Moonstone Beach, CA
Survived
23 Sep 2002 G. T. Surfing Cape Kiwanda, Oregon
Survived
28 Nov 2002 M. C. Surfing Salmon Creek, CA
Survived
19 Aug 2003 D. F. Swimming Avila, CA
Fatal
28 May 2004 B. C. Surfing Salmon Creek, CA
Survived
26 Jun 2004 K. F. Surfing San Onofre – Trail # 1, CA
Survived
15 Aug 2004 R. F. Diving Ten Mile River Beach, Ft. Bragg, CA
Fatal
20 Aug 2004 S. L. Surfing 204s, San Clemente, CA
Survived
20 Sep 2004 S. M. Surfing Gold Beach, Oregon
Survived
1 Oct 2004 C. W. Surfing Lifeguard Tower 16, Huntington Beach, CA Survived
2 Oct 2004 B. I. Surfing Pismo Beach, CA
Survived
10 Oct 2004 P. DJ. Surfing Limantour Beach, Point Reyes, CA
Survived
11 Nov 2004 B. K. Surfing "Bunkers" - North Jetty, Humboldt Bay, CA Survived
24 Aug 2005 T. S. Surfing Scripps Pier, La Jolla Shores, CA
Survived
19 Oct 2005 M. H. Surfing Salmon Creek, CA
Survived
21 Oct 2005 C. R. Surfing Mouth of the Klamath River, CA
Survived
2 Nov 2005 J. D. Surfing Ocean Beach, San Francisco, CA
Survived
3 Nov 2005 T. W. Surfing Pillar Point, Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, CA Survived
24 Dec 2005 B. A. Surfing First Point, Tillamook Head, Oregon
Survived
18 Jan 2006 M. L. Surfing Second Bowl, 'The Hook,' Santa Cruz, CA Survived
17 Jun 2006 J. P. Diving Monterey Plaza Hotel Beach, CA
Survived
31 Jul 2006 R. M. Surfing Short Sands Beach, Oswald State Park, Oregon Survived
29 Aug 2006 T. L. Surfing South Jetty, Siuslaw River , Florence, Oregon Survived
31 Oct 2006 T. P. Surfing Siletz River, Lincoln City, Oregon
Survived
10 Dec 2006 R. F. Surfing Dillon Beach, CA
Survived
30 Jun 2007 K. Z. Swimming Will Rogers State Beach, CA
Survived
17 Jul 2007 S. L. Swimming Faria Beach, CA
Survived
21 Jul 2007 "Dan" Kayak Bean Hollow Beach, San Mateo County, CA Survived
22 Jul 2007 V. C. Paddleboard Malibu, CA
Survived
28 Jul 2007 J. S. Surfing Imperial Beach, CA
Survived
28 Aug 2007 T. E. Surfing Marina State Beach, CA
Survived
27 Sep 2007 S. S. Surfing Moonstone Beach, Humboldt County, CA Survived
30 Sep 2007 A. S. Surfing Santa Monica Beach, CA
Survived
7 Oct 2007 S. B. Surfing Venice Beach,
CA Survived
7 Mar 2008 T. L. Surfing Dog Beach - Huntington Beach, CA
Survived

I've been surfing for 10 years and have never seen a shark. That doesn't mean they aren't there. In 1989, a couple kayaking of Malibu/Paradise Cove got hit but there was debate whether a boat hit them and the shark came later.

Whenever you enter the ocean, you potentially enter the food chain.

Anyone who comes to HB for the Aug. 1st SG convention interested in a surf lesson?

Goober

No nets.

You can visit the office website for some interesting accounts;

http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/unprovoked_surfer.htm

I actually think the risk of a shark attach is higher when I surf in Kauai, Hawaii. Two years ago, I was about to go out at Waiohai when a local who had just come in said there was a 14 foot tiger that had been "checking him out."

Goob

Yeah, yeah. Also bee stings, lightening strikes, trains and probably a hundred other daily activities that nobody gives a second thought. Its that darn movie soundtrack from Jaws, I think, that whithers otherwise rational people: "dunh dunh Dunh Dunh DUNH DUNH!!!" Admittedly, a lot of surfers think its fine that people are encouraged by the hyped up danger to stay out of the water - less people in the line-up, yeah? With an average of 1 attack a year along the approx. 1500 mile stretch of the West Coast, nets are hardly feasible, worth it or necessary.

There is so much good surf to be had all the way to HB from Santa Cruz, of course I would be bringing my board. Its a fun trip, if I can fit it in.

knock knock,

whos there?

Land Shark...

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

bigtikidude
knock knock,

whos there?

Land Shark...

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Y'all got it wrong. It's s'pposed to go:

knock-knock

Who's there?

Candy-gram

Oh boy, a candy-gram! (opens door, screams as attacked by the land shark).

Matt
(he's Chevy Chase, and I'm not)

Fast Cars & Loud Guitars!

Spud
You hit the nail on the head Vincent, well for me anyway, sea snakes scare the crap out of me, the little bastards are too bloody quick and you don't have a chance if one of them decides to have a go at you.

At least sharks and jelly fish you can see, sea snakes, no, perhaps a flash of silver or something when they are on the move, but that's it.

Are sea snake bites all that common? I thought that, though they are
frighteningly venomous, they are generally docile--much like the
coral snake here in the States. Here we have four basic types of
venomous snakes--rattlesnakes and copperheads (which are pretty
much in my backyard--literally), cottonmouths (a type of swamp
snake, I think, that lives in the south), and the coral snake, which is
the most venomous of the bunch. But bites from the coral snake
are exceedingly rare.

Oh! And though it's not a water critter, y'all have the Sydney funnelweb
spider, which is (so I've heard) ounce-for-ounce the most venmous
creature on the planet. And unlike our black widow (which, if I am
not mistaken, has not produced a lethal bite in over 50 years), the
Sydney funnelweb spider is actually aggressive to boot!

Hell, even the friggin' PLATYPUS is venomous! Can you believe that
sh*t?!?!? A MAMMAL that has poison! I mean, say what you want
about the "wilds" of the Americas--you guys Down Under have
us beat on every zoological front!

Glad you guys are our allies!

Maybe we Yanks have a romantic view of Australia, but I think our
general view is best summed up in the 80s movie, Crocodile Dundee:
When confronted with a mugger in the streets of New York who pulls
a switchblade on Croc, the lady with him says, "You'd better do what he
says. He's got a knife!" Crocs just smirks and says, "Ahhh, that's not a
knife," then pulls out this 12-inch blade, and says, "Now THAT'S a knife!"

Vince

Is this something you can share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?!?

synchro
I wish some of our other wildlife was as considerate. Diamondbacks are all to common in the area and there's even the occasional Mojave Rattler which combines all of the proteolytic venom of a rattlesnake with the neuro-toxic venom of the Coral Snake/Cobra family. Thank goodness, I live at too high of an elevation for these little darlings. Then there's the Brown Recluse spider, the only bit of AZ wildlife to actually have bitten me. The beauty is, the bite stays with you forever and flares up every time you get sick. If the site of the (7 year-old) bite turns red I know I'm fighting something off.

I'd be more worried about bark scorpions than snakes in the southwest.
They DO pack a wallop!

As for the brown recluse, yes, they can be nasty due to the necrotic
toxin (as opposed to neurotoxins that other toxic spiders produce)--it's
the proverbial gift that keeps on giving. On the other hand, I don't
think anyone has actually died from a brown recluse bite, but I could be
mistaken. But people HAVE lost limbs due to gangreen setting in. . . .

Interestingly, we have a spider here in the northeast called the yellow
sac spider. Actually, it's distributed all throughout the U.S., but is the
most common house spider in this neck of the woods. Its bite hurts
like a sonofabitch (my wife was bitten by one about six years ago),
and it has a mild toxin similar to the brown recluse, but is not nearly as
necrotic, although many in this part of the U.S. (again, the northeast,
not the southwest where you live) who claim to have been bitten by a
brown recluse (when in fact it does not live in this area), were in fact
bitten by a yellow sac spider. (Again, I'm talking about those of us
in the northeast, NOT your particular incident.) The symptoms are
similar, but not nearly as severe.

Here's a link to a description of the spider:

http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/SacSpiders.shtml

What's even more interesting is the fact that it has only recently (i.e.,
in the past ten or twenty years) been discovered to be toxic.

Our friends in the Pacific northwest have a critter called the hobo spider,
which gets its name due to the fact that it was actually an "import" from
Europe in the 1930s or 1940s, and decided to "settle" in the northwest.

But good thing sharks don't have venom!

But THAT thought makes me think of one of Jack Handy's "Deep Thoughts":

Contrary to popular belief, the most dangerous animal is not the lion or tiger or elephant. The most dangerous animal is a shark riding on an elephant, just trampeling and eating everything they see.

Vince

Is this something you can share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?!?